Garsdale railway station

Garsdale
Garsdale railway station
Location
Place	Garsdale Head
Local authority	South Lakeland
Coordinates	54°19′16″N 2°19′34″W / 54.321°N 2.326°WCoordinates: 54°19′16″N 2°19′34″W / 54.321°N 2.326°W
Grid reference	SD788918
Operations
Station code	GSD
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	15,006
2011/12	14,850
2012/13	15,136
2013/14	16,234
2014/15	15,614
History
1 August 1876[1]	Opened as Hawes Junction
20 January 1900[1]	Renamed Hawes Junction and Garsdale
1 September 1932[1]	Renamed Garsdale
4 May 1970[1]	Closed
14 July 1986[1]	Reopened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Garsdale from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Garsdale railway station is a railway station which serves the immediate hamlet of Garsdale Head, Cumbria, England, together with the valley of Garsdale and the nearby towns of Sedbergh, Cumbria and Hawes, North Yorkshire. It is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services; it is situated 61 ¹⁄₂ miles (99 km) north of Leeds.

The station was designed by the Midland Railway company architect John Holloway Sanders, though not in the same style as used elsewhere on the route.^[2][3]

Adjoining the station are sixteen Railway Cottages built for its employees by the Midland Railway around 1876, the year the Settle-Carlisle Line opened. A further six cottages were added near to the Moorcock Inn soon afterwards. In the days of steam-hauled London-Scotland expresses, the locality once boasted the highest water troughs in the world (just along the line at Ling Gill). Unusually, the station waiting room was once used for Anglican church services, and the railway turntable had a wall of sleepers built around it to prevent locomotives being spun by strong winds: this happened in 1900 and was the inspiration for the story 'Tenders and Turntables' in the book 'Troublesome Engines' in The Railway Series by Rev W. Awdry.^[4]

The Hawes Junction rail crash of 1910 occurred near to the station, which was originally named Hawes Junction, as it was the junction of a branch line to Hawes. This line was closed in March 1959, though it is the long-term aim of the Wensleydale Railway to extend their rails along the former route from Redmire to connect with services here, allowing through journeys to Northallerton on the East Coast Main Line. The signal box (opened just a few months before the Christmas 1910 accident) on the northbound platform is still in use today.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, but waiting rooms are available on each platform. They are linked by a ramped subway and are therefore fully accessible for disabled travellers.^[5] Tickets must be bought in advance or on the train as no ticket machines are available. Train running information can be obtained from timetable posters or by phone from the station signal box. A bus service to & from Hawes connects with selected train departures each day.^[6]

Services

Garsdale has seen a modest improvement in service levels in recent years, with an extra morning service in each direction. This brings the service level up to that seen at various other stations on the route (such as Langwathby), namely six each way on weekdays & Saturdays and three each way on Sundays.^[7] The station is also served by DalesRail trains between Blackpool North/Preston and Carlisle on Sundays during the summer (one train each way in 2016 timetable).

Statue of Ruswarp

Statue of Ruswarp at Garsdale Railway Station

The southbound platform features a life-size bronze statue of a Border Collie dog named Ruswarp (pronounced /rʌsəp/), which belonged to Graham Nuttall, one of the founding members of the group set up in the 1980s to save the Settle-Carlisle Railway from closure. Nuttall disappeared while walking in the Welsh mountains on 20 January 1990. His body was found on 7 April; Ruswarp had not only survived but had stood guard over his owner's body for 11 weeks. The sculpture by JOEL is a memorial to both Graham Nuttall and Ruswarp and was unveiled on 11 April 2009, 20 years after the line was saved from closure.^[8] The station waiting rooms, previously out of use due to leaking roofs, were also refurbished & reopened to the public as part of the ceremony.^[3]

References

1. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
2. "Notes by the Way.". Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 1 November 1884. Retrieved 12 July 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)).
3. Stations - Garsdale Settle Carlisle Railway website; Retrieved 23 November 2016
4. The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine Real Stories Database http://www.pegnsean.net/~railwayseries/database.htm
5. Garsdale Station Facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 28 November 2016
6. "Little White Bus, Service 855: Garsdale to Hawes" Getdown.org; Retrieved 28 November 2016
7. GB National Rail Timetable 2016, Table 42 (Network Rail)
8. Press Release on the Statue Unveiling and Re-opening of the station buildings Network Rail Media Centre; Retrieved 23 March 2009

External links

• Video and commentary - Garsdale railway station

Garsdale

• Train times and station information for Garsdale railway station from National Rail